The Eye of the Mandala


Book Description

A thrilling supernatural adventure story Mel always knew she was different. There were the visions. Then the boy from the past. When the authorities of a tyrannical state learn about a young girl's uncanny ability to translate an ancient and possibly illegal text they decide to keep her under surveillance. But they have no idea what extraordinary powers the text is about to unleash nor what strange coincidences will lead her not only to resolving a terrible crime in the past but also to discovering a devastating secret. "This is writing of a high standard inspired by a sense of energy. The writer's enthusiasm transmits to readers and keeps them turning the pages. This has all the potential to be a commercial success." (Cornerstones) "This book is a great, roller coaster of a plot with realistic and intriguing characters. Some truly lovely writing." (New York Children's Literary Agency) "Mandala is an original and exciting story, a gripping book full of suspense. The dictator society and what happens to curfew breakers was really scary. Great stuff." Anne Brooke author of "A Dangerous Man"




Colonialism and Wildlife


Book Description

This book delves into the history of the commercialization of wildlife in India. It examines the colonial strategies that were employed in the commodification of wildlife resources specifically for lucrative domestic and international trade during the early nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. It looks at how and why the colonial administration paid special emphasis on hunting and game sports which largely contributed to commodity capitalism in the form of taxidermy and wildlife exports. The author also critically analyses the wildlife laws and regulations promulgated by the colonial administration, such as the elephant protection act, birds and fisheries act, the forest acts, and studies how they have systematically brought wildlife under state control with a commercial motive. An important contribution to the environmental history of India, this book is an essential interdisciplinary resource for scholars and researchers of history, colonialism, wildlife studies, economic history, ecological studies, environmental history, Indian history, South Asian studies, and development studies.




Kabini And The Jungle Stories


Book Description

At the turn of the 19th century in India, more than a million wild animals were trounced under the barrel of the gun, bringing them almost to the brink of extinction. There began one of the most inspirational stories of the crusade from Karapore village at the Kabini river of Mysore in South India. An innovative style of protecting nature gives immense importance to the preservation of wilderness, changing the lives of the aborigines through an instrument of eco-tourism. The book charts the key moments in the fight to conserve the natural wealth of India, which has been the centre of admiration for maharajas, the cynosure of the eyes of all royal princes, eminent military officials and those who set on foot to India during the medieval period, embarking on a journey of incredible stories of wildlife sports such as hunting and shooting. The chronicle gives a fascinating picture of the success story of eco-tourism in Karnataka. It offers an atmospheric and entertaining account of the lives of Indian princes, early lifestyles of viceroys, kings, czars and sovereign monarchs with joyful hunting expeditions of emperors, maharajas and enjoyable sports of diplomats and bloodhound hunters, the British civil servants. In a most vivid and gripping style, the saga records the life of men who lived in the wilderness amidst tribes and aborigines and made them friends, which spread the message of the benevolence of human relationships, love and a deep affection for nature and natural resources. It is a captivating book packed with splendid quotes, entertaining anecdotes, chronicles of pre-independent, innovative, triumphant trials of Khedda operations in the princely states of Mysore and Hyderabad, absorbing tales of the wildlife of India and her natural splendours across the cultural diversity of various tribes, ethnicities and their virtues, beliefs and ethos.




The Hidden Meaning of Dreams


Book Description

Psychological and mystical meanings of symbols in dreams.




Shooting a Tiger


Book Description

The figure of the white hunter sahib proudly standing over the carcass of a tiger with a gun in hand is one of the most powerful and enduring images of the empire. This book examines the colonial politics that allowed British imperialists to indulge in such grand posturing as the rulers and protectors of indigenous populations. This work studies the history of hunting and conservation in colonial India during the high imperial decades of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. At this time, not only did hunting serve as a metaphor for colonial rule signifying the virile sportsmanship of the British hunter, but it also enabled vital everyday governance through the embodiment of the figure of the officer–hunter–administrator. Using archival material and published sources, the author examines hunting and wildlife conservation from various social and ethnic perspectives, and also in different geographical contexts, extending our understanding of the link between shikar and governance.




Mandala Road


Book Description

Two generations of the Nonezawa family – Asafumi and his wife Shizuka, and Asafumi's grandfather Rentaro and his Malayan lover Saya – are connected across the years by the mysterious Mandala Road, which simultaneously casts Asafumi and Rentaro from their respective ages into a haunting post-apocalyptic world. As becomes apparent, Asafumi, Rentaro, Saya, and Shizuka are all, in their own way, on a private journey to discover and reconcile themselves with their memories of violence, both seen and experienced, as they struggle to understand themselves, unearth the emotions they have repressed, and learn to live with a past that seems always to be too close behind them.




Lost Kingdom: Animal Death in the Anthropocene


Book Description

The authors in ‘Lost Kingdom’ grapple with both the catastrophe of mass animal extinction, in which the panoply of earthly life is in the accelerating process of disappearing, and with the mass death of industrial animal agriculture. Both forms of anthropogenic violence against animals cast the Anthropocene as an era of criminality and loss driven by boundless human exceptionalism, forcing a reckoning with and an urgent reimagining of human-animal relations. Without the sleights of hand that would lump “humanity” into a singular Anthropos of the Anthropocene, the authors recognize the differential nature of human impacts on animal life and the biosphere as a whole, while affirming the complexity of animal worlds and their profound imbrications in human cultures, societies, and industries. Confronting the reality of the Sixth Mass Extinction and mass animal death requires forms of narrativity that draw on traditional genres and disciplines, while signaling a radical break with modern temporalities and norms. Chapters in this volume reflect this challenge, while embodying the interdisciplinary nature of inquiry into non-human animality at the edge of the abyss—historiography, cultural anthropology, post-colonial studies, literary criticism, critical animal studies, ethics, religious studies, Anthropocene studies, and extinction studies entwine to illuminate what is arguably the greatest crisis, for all creatures, in the past 65 million years.




The Mandala


Book Description

Guru and Ban are twin brothers born into a Christian family. They both remember past lives, in which Guru was a Buddhist monk and Ban was an American army chaplain. Reincarnation may be unheard of in Christianity, but the belief is less important than the way we live our present lives. The adventures of Guru and Ban will show you that it is possible for Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, and other beliefs to lead their members into a covenant of mutual respect, love, and sharing. The brothers will challenge you to re-examine your ideas about good and evil, your place in Creation, and your own resurrection. Then, whatever conclusions you reach or beliefs you settle on, you will always be welcome to come and worship at the Green Church in Shalom City.




The Inhuman Empire


Book Description

This book is a study of selected texts of British writings on Indian wildlife published between 1860 and 1960. Set in the context of British colonial rule in India, this book also reflects on similar situations across the British Empire and other colonial empires. The destruction of wildlife in the making of empires is a subject not yet fully explored in scholarship. This book aims to speak to global concerns regarding the extinction of several species and shows that the crisis has international roots. The Inhuman Empire breaks new grounds as it juxtaposes colonial narratives to folk narratives. These two types of narratives treat nonhuman animals very differently – folk narrative considers them sentient beings, while colonial narratives see them as ‘game’ and do not care for their sentience. Both types of narratives are further evaluated with reference to the contemporary position of natural sciences regarding animal sentience and of anthropologists and philosophers regarding the relationship between nature and culture. Analyzing colonial accounts of hunting, the author looks at the pain and suffering of nonhuman animals and combines statistics alongside narratives of British writers, Indian populace and nonhuman animals in order to show narratives' reflect and impact reality. This book will be of great value to those interested in Animal Studies, Folkloristics, the history of Colonialism and India.




Guide to the Buddhist Path


Book Description

Buddhism, with its numerous schools and teachings, can feel daunting. How can one practise Buddhism in a systematic way? Profoundly experienced in Buddhist practice, intimately familiar with its main schools, and founder of the Triratna Buddhist Community, an international movement, Sangharakshita is the ideal guide. In this highly readable, reliable and far-reaching guide, he sorts out fact from myth and theory from practice to reveal the principal ideals and teachings of Buddhism.